By Al Root

The rare earth rally has room to run, Wall Street says. Two stocks picked up new Buy ratings to start the month. Both have the rating from all the analysts covering them. That's rare indeed.

On Monday, MP Materials picked up a Buy rating and $80 price target when Needham analyst Carter Goman launched coverage of the company. And upstart Rare Earths Americas got the nod and a $25 price target when Cannacord analyst George Gianarikas launched coverage.

In afternoon trading, MP popped 8.9% at 70.46. Rare Earths Americas was down 0.5% at $21.75.

MP, the Western Hempsphere's largest rare earth miner, has a valuable deal with the Defense Department that includes price floors for key materials as well as a guaranteed customer for downstream magnet-making capacity under construction.

The company is the leader in what has become an arms race to end America's reliance on Chinese materials. China dominates rare -arth markets, accounting for an estimated 85% of global processing capacity.

MP has used its dominance as a negotiating chip in trade conflicts, threatening U.S. high-tech manufacturing. Small amounts of rare earth metals are used in everything from iPhones to fighter jets.

MP's position makes it "significantly advantaged relative to new entrants," said Goman.

Rare Earths Americas, a development-stage miner with projects in Georgia and Brazil, completed an IPO in May.

"The race for strategic independence is officially on," wrote Gianarikas. "MP Materials established itself as an early champion of American rare earth magnetics, with fast-followers...charging hard to fill the production gap."

Rare Earths is focused on heavier rare-earth elements.

Still, Wall Street sees opportunity in both stocks. Each has a perfect Buy-rating ratio, according to FactSet. All 19 analysts covering MP stock rate the shares Buy. All three covering Rare Earths rate shares Buy.

There is another perfect rare earth stock. USA Rare Earth has nine analysts covering it. All nine rate shares Buy.)

To be sure, Rare Earths Americas is relatively new, but perfect ratings are rare. Only about 1% of S&P 500 stocks and 2% of Russell 1000 stocks have perfect ratings.

There are too many to list, but the S&P 500 list includes real estate services company CBRE Group, electronics materials company Qnity Electronics, and GPS technology company Trimble.

The Russell 1000 list includes aerospace parts company Loar, electrical components supplier nVent Electric, cloud data provider Rubrik, and oil and gas explorer Viper Energy.

A perfect Buy-rating ratio doesn't ensure success. The average return over the past 12 months for perfect stocks in the Russell is about 27%, almost exactly matching the index. The perfect stocks have a slightly better hit rate, however, with 65% up compared with closer to 60% for the index.

Perfect ratings aren't necessary for stock market success, guaranteed, but it's nice to have Wall Street back any idea.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 01, 2026 15:57 ET (19:57 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.